Computer Shopper - UK (2020-04)

ISSUE386|COMPUTER SHOPPER|APRIL2020 27

XIDU ITSELF MAYhave popped up
seemingly from nowhere,but its TourrrPro
laptopisundoubtedlyaforcetobereeeckoned
with:it’sincrediblycheap,yetoffersaQQQQuad
HDscreen,slimlineultraportabledesssign
andevenroomforasecondSSD.
Itcan’thideitsbudgetnature
entirely–it’sonlypoweredbya
modestIntel Celeron 3867U, with 8GGGBof
RAMandasmall1 28 GBSSD–butaaatleast
ontheoutside,it’sremarkablywellmaddde.
Thealloyconstruction feels solid andsturdy,
andthe firm hinge can bendall the wayback
to 180°. Weighing1.24kg and measuring
290x200x15mm when closed,it’s also
appreciably portable.

HITTHE ROAD

Poke theTour Prohardand you’llfind that the
keyboarddeck is rock solid. It also has an
impressively uniform single-stage backlight,
while the keyactionisnigh-on perfect, and
quiet, too. Thekeyboardusesthe international
layout, but Xidu thoughtfullyincludes a
UK-layoutsilicon keyboard protector in the
box, which sitsnicelyontop.
Thesmooth, Precision-driven touchpad is
similarlyhard to criticise. At 98x62mm, it’s a
good size,and it demonstrated no annoying
quirks. There’s alsoafingerprint scanner
hidden in the powerbutton, onethatworks
quickly and reliably,and another neatextra
canbefound on theunderside: aslotfor a
secondaryM.2 SSD.
ConnectiooonnnsssiiinnncccllluuudddeeeooonnneeeUUUSSSBBB 333 pppooorrrttt,aaa
microSDcardddslotanda3.5mmaudiojackon
theright,plusaUSBType-Cportand
aDCjackontheleft. Theformercan
carryvideooooutput as well as act as
abackupchaaargingport, and while
an extra full-sssssiiiizzzzeeeeUUUUSSSSBBBBppppoooorrrrtttt((((aaaannnndddd
possibly HDMMMIoutput)would
be nice,acheeeap Type-C hub
fixes this proooblem.
It’s hard to findfault
with the12.5iiindisplay.
This 2,560x1, 4444444440000 IIIIPPPPSSSS
panel massivvvely
overperformsssforthe
price,with9 999 %sRGB
coverageandddpeak
brightnessofff
340cd/m^2 ,nooooottttttttoooo
mentionthe sheer
sharpness offfthat
resolution. Attt925:1,
contrast ratiooois more

XIDU Tour Pro

★★★★★

£460•From http://www.amaaazon.co.uk

WINDOWS10 ULTRAPORTABLE

hhhuuummmdddrrruuummm,,,bbbutgggenerallythispanelisgreat

tolookat,whichisnotsomethingwe’’’vesaiiiddd

aboutmanysub-£500laptops.

As you might expect, thefully laminated

screen hasagloss finishsoitisrather

reflective,but not to theextent we couldn’t

live with it.It’s also atouchscreen, which is yet

another boon forthe money. The 10-point

touch sensor wasperfectly calibratedout of

the box.Xidu supplies notone,not two,but

three screen protectors –two pre-applied and

one spare,whichsuggests the screenisn’t

covered with toughened glass.

The sound quality from thetwo

downwards-firing speakers is not the

Achilles heel it usuallyiswith laptops,either:

there’s plentyofvolumeand even ahintof

bass.The sound is clear and onlygets alittle

ragged at maximum volume.

WORKAND PLAYBACK

The ProTour’s Celeron 3867U chip didn’t

exactlyburn throughour benchmarks, butit

makes the laptopusable foreveryday

bbbrrrooowwwsssiiinnnggg.AAAnnn 888 ttttthhh-gggeeennneeerrraaatttiiiooonnnKKKaaabbbyyyLakeR

processor,itwaaaasreleasedearlyin 2019 and

supporrrtsallthe

latestvvvideo

hardwaaare decoding.

That’s immmportant

becauseitlacks the

chops tommmake up any

deficienciesssin this area

wwwwiiiitttthhhhrrrraaaawwwwppppooooower.An

olderchip with this spec

would not be abletotake

full advantage of the1440p

display, but as it stands,

Quad HD,60fps YouTube

videos playsmoooothly and

look superbontheeeTour Pro.

As adual-core,tttwin-thread

ccccoooooooommmmppppoooonnnneeeennnnttttwwwwiiiitttthhhhaaaafififififixed speed of

1. 8888 GHz, the 3867U’sperformance
   feellllssomewhere betwwweenthe
   Gemini Lake N4100 andddthe Core
   m3- 8888 100Ychipwhen nooomajor

dddeeemmmaaannndddsssssaaarrreeemmmaaadddeofit.Butstartaskingfor

moreandtheabsenceoftheN 41 00’sextra

twocoresortheTurboBoostoftheCorem3

startstomake itself felt.

Nonetheless,the Tour Pro scored 42

overall in ourbenchmarks,which is more than

twice that of the £509 Microsoft Surface Go

(Shopper371). Thisispartly calculatedfroma

low image test scoreof44, but its multitasking

scoreof42isdecent forabudget laptop.

Sadly,battery life is poor at any price; the

Tour Pro only lasted 5h 10m in our looping

videoplayback test. What’s more,the 38WHr

battery canonlydeliver amaximum run time

of around six-and-a-half hours. That’s thebest

you’ll get, so even if you’re frugal, you’llneed

to recharge partway through the day.

FORWHATIT’SWORTH

However,thisisalsothe only majorweakness

of an ultraportable Windows laptop thatcosts

£460, which is quitethe accomplishmenton

Xidu’spart. Provided you don’twant alaptop

forserious gamingorjobs such as editing

4K video,it’s easy to getattachedtoit: it’s

faster than thenumbers might suggest, the

screen is excellent, and buildquality is afar

cry from theplastickydevicesthat more

commonlyoccupythis pricebracket.

AlunTaylor

VERDICT

A1440p,all-metal laptop for so littlesssoundstoogood
tobetrue–but,forthemostpart,thhhequality is real

SPECIFICATIONS

Windowsoverall

Multitasking

Battery life

0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100

Seepage84for performance details

PROCESSORDual-core 1.8GHz IntelCeleron 3867U•

RAM8GB•DIMENSIONS290x200x15mm•WEIGHT1.24kg

• SCREEN SIZE12.5in•SCREEN RESOLUTION2,160x1,440


• GRAPHICSADAPTORIntelHDGraphics610•TOTAL
  STORAGE128GBSSD•OPERATINGSYSTEMWindows 10
  Home•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.
  xidustore.com•PART CODEQW125

5h 10m

42

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